The 285th F.A.O. B. duty was to help Artillery units locate and destroy the enemy using a method based on the sound and the flash from the enemy's guns in the distance. They were lightly armed with 45 pistols and 30 caliber long rifles. On December 16, 1944, the 285th was located at Shevenhutte, Germany when Captain Scarborough received orders to move the battery south to St. Vich, Belgium. On that day Captain Scarborough along with his driver Harold Hinkle (my father) (from Marietta, PA) and a few men headed south to mark the route the Battery would take the next day. Unknown to them was the fact that the Germans had started a massive attack, which would later come to be known as “The Battle of the Bulge” to the southeast of Malmedy, Belgium.
Captain Scarborough reached Malmedy that night. The next morning the destination orders for the 285th were changed from St. Vich, Belgium to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. The Captain and his marking party left Malmedy in the morning and headed south continuing to mark the route for the battery to Luxembourg.
On December 17, 1944, the 285th began his trip south into history after the passing of the U.S. 7th Armored Division which was headed to Bastogne, Belgium. They stopped for lunch just north of Malmedy before continuing south toward Luxembourg. As the 285th began the climb up the hill toward the crossroads, all of the sudden four of the trucks came to a halt. Sergeant Barrington had become very ill. Lieutenant Ksiadzek decided to take Barrington along with these four trucks back to the Malmedy aid station. An action that would wind up saving these men's lives. Ksiadzek became ill as well. It would not be until the Vietnam war that the likely reason for their illness would be discovered. Apparently, they had drunk coffee that was contaminated by fumes from the use of jellied wood alcohol fuel cans used to heat coffee and other food.
The main body of the battery continued up the hill to the five-point crossroads at Baugnez. As the battery reached the crossroads it meets up with Kampfgruppe Pieper's column of German Panzer tanks. Outnumber and outgunned Lieutenant Lary choose to surrender. The Germans then rounded up the men of the 285th along with some unlucky soldiers from an ambulance group and marched them to the field across from the Cafe at the Crossroads. There the prisoners were shot by machine gun fire. Some of those that did not die from the machine gun, would later die in the killing field when the Germans went through the pile of bodies and shot anyone they found alive. Still somehow thirty-one men from the 285th and ten other men would escape the killing field to tell the story of the Malmedy Massacre.
Meanwhile, Captian Scarborough along with his driver T4 Hinkle was left waiting near Luxembourg for a battery that would never arrive. Eventually, they were told that the 285th had been wiped out and did not learn the details of how to the next day or so.
Shortly after the first survivors from the killing field made it back to Malmedy, word got out to all the Allied troops detailing what the German's did at Malmedy. This notice must likely played a large role in General McCarthy's refusal to surrender at Bastogne despite being outnumbered as much as 10 to 1. As a result, the Germans would continue to try to take Bastogne for days running themselves out of fuel as General Patton and his army came to the rescue of the men at Bastogne. This event turn “The Battle of the Bulge to the allies favor and was Hitler's last chance to save his troops from an eventual loss of the war, a little more than six months later.
The following is a list of the men who died as a result of the Malmedy Massacre from the books Flash-Bang! The Unit History of the 285th Field Artillery (Observation) Battalion by Master Sergeant Walt Cross, 2015 and Fatal Crossroads, The untold story of the Malmedy Massacre at The Battle of the Bulge” by Danny S. Parker, 2012. Watch for another post on Labor Day about the 31 heroes that escaped the killing field. Names without a notation died in the killing field to the best of my knowledge. A few names have the area from which they lived in the US as well.
David Bloom, Blouch, Carl H (shrapnel), Breon, Charles, Brozowski, Joseph, Burkett, Samuel Car, Paul (Shrapnel), Carson, Homer, Clark, Fredrick (Shell concussion), Coates, James H., Cohen, Robert , Cobber, John H. (Wounded, died later), Collier, John, Davis, Warren (Shrapnel), Davidson, Paul G , Desch, Howard, Dunbar, William, Fitt, Carl, Flack, Donald, Franz, Walter, Frey, Carl B., Geisler, Donald, 2nd Lt. Goffman, Solomon (Shot in the head while protesting SS men picking his pockets), 1st LT Carl Genthner (Virginia, Spoke German), Haines, Chalres F (Shell), Hall, Charles (Crushed), Hallman, Samuel (From Front Royal VA) , Herchelroth, Sylvester, Indelicato, Ralph (HQ Battery 285th ) (Medic-tried to tend to wonder shoulder in Killing Field and was shot), Jones, Wilson, Kinsman, Alfred (Unknown reason of death), Kingston, Kenny (from Allentown PA), Harold, Laufer, Harold (Blow to head), Lengyel, Alexander, Jr., Lester, Raymond, Leu, Selmar, Lucas, Alan (Crushed), Lucas, David (Forced to drive truck by Germans, died as POW), Leuers, James, Lawarance, Martin, McKinney, Robert (Crushed), McGovern, William, Miller, Hasley, Capt. Mills Roger (Killed approaching Germans from the field when he suspected something bad was about to happen), Moore, William (Crushed), 1st LT Munzinger, John, Murray, David (Unknown cause of death),O' Grady, David (Shot), Oliver, Thomas, Oscar, Jordon, Laufer, Osborne, John (Blow to head), Perkowski, Walter (Shrapel), Phillies, Peter, Piasecki, Stanley, Pittman, Gilbert, Ist LT Reardon, Perry, Rosenfield, George (Shell), Rulman, Carl, Rupp, John (Shrapnel), Saylor, Oscar, Schwitgold, Max, Sheetz, Irwin, Shingler, John, Snyder, Robert, Stabulis, Alphonse, Steffy, George, Stevens, Carl, Swartz, Luke (From Reinholds, PA, Had dream that he would die during something bad the day of to Massacre, Died in killing field), Thomas, Elwood (MIA), Vario, Louis (Died later at Neuhof. Germany), Walker, Richard (Shrapnel), Watt, Thomas, Wiles, Vester, Wusterbarth, Dayton E.
Other: Lindt, Benjamin (200 FAB), Clymire, John, J. (86th Eng. Bn., Shell), James, Llyod A. (Rec. Co. 32nd Arm'd Rgt., Mullen, Kenston E (546 Amb. Co. )
Captain Scarborough reached Malmedy that night. The next morning the destination orders for the 285th were changed from St. Vich, Belgium to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. The Captain and his marking party left Malmedy in the morning and headed south continuing to mark the route for the battery to Luxembourg.
On December 17, 1944, the 285th began his trip south into history after the passing of the U.S. 7th Armored Division which was headed to Bastogne, Belgium. They stopped for lunch just north of Malmedy before continuing south toward Luxembourg. As the 285th began the climb up the hill toward the crossroads, all of the sudden four of the trucks came to a halt. Sergeant Barrington had become very ill. Lieutenant Ksiadzek decided to take Barrington along with these four trucks back to the Malmedy aid station. An action that would wind up saving these men's lives. Ksiadzek became ill as well. It would not be until the Vietnam war that the likely reason for their illness would be discovered. Apparently, they had drunk coffee that was contaminated by fumes from the use of jellied wood alcohol fuel cans used to heat coffee and other food.
The main body of the battery continued up the hill to the five-point crossroads at Baugnez. As the battery reached the crossroads it meets up with Kampfgruppe Pieper's column of German Panzer tanks. Outnumber and outgunned Lieutenant Lary choose to surrender. The Germans then rounded up the men of the 285th along with some unlucky soldiers from an ambulance group and marched them to the field across from the Cafe at the Crossroads. There the prisoners were shot by machine gun fire. Some of those that did not die from the machine gun, would later die in the killing field when the Germans went through the pile of bodies and shot anyone they found alive. Still somehow thirty-one men from the 285th and ten other men would escape the killing field to tell the story of the Malmedy Massacre.
Meanwhile, Captian Scarborough along with his driver T4 Hinkle was left waiting near Luxembourg for a battery that would never arrive. Eventually, they were told that the 285th had been wiped out and did not learn the details of how to the next day or so.
Shortly after the first survivors from the killing field made it back to Malmedy, word got out to all the Allied troops detailing what the German's did at Malmedy. This notice must likely played a large role in General McCarthy's refusal to surrender at Bastogne despite being outnumbered as much as 10 to 1. As a result, the Germans would continue to try to take Bastogne for days running themselves out of fuel as General Patton and his army came to the rescue of the men at Bastogne. This event turn “The Battle of the Bulge to the allies favor and was Hitler's last chance to save his troops from an eventual loss of the war, a little more than six months later.
The following is a list of the men who died as a result of the Malmedy Massacre from the books Flash-Bang! The Unit History of the 285th Field Artillery (Observation) Battalion by Master Sergeant Walt Cross, 2015 and Fatal Crossroads, The untold story of the Malmedy Massacre at The Battle of the Bulge” by Danny S. Parker, 2012. Watch for another post on Labor Day about the 31 heroes that escaped the killing field. Names without a notation died in the killing field to the best of my knowledge. A few names have the area from which they lived in the US as well.
David Bloom, Blouch, Carl H (shrapnel), Breon, Charles, Brozowski, Joseph, Burkett, Samuel Car, Paul (Shrapnel), Carson, Homer, Clark, Fredrick (Shell concussion), Coates, James H., Cohen, Robert , Cobber, John H. (Wounded, died later), Collier, John, Davis, Warren (Shrapnel), Davidson, Paul G , Desch, Howard, Dunbar, William, Fitt, Carl, Flack, Donald, Franz, Walter, Frey, Carl B., Geisler, Donald, 2nd Lt. Goffman, Solomon (Shot in the head while protesting SS men picking his pockets), 1st LT Carl Genthner (Virginia, Spoke German), Haines, Chalres F (Shell), Hall, Charles (Crushed), Hallman, Samuel (From Front Royal VA) , Herchelroth, Sylvester, Indelicato, Ralph (HQ Battery 285th ) (Medic-tried to tend to wonder shoulder in Killing Field and was shot), Jones, Wilson, Kinsman, Alfred (Unknown reason of death), Kingston, Kenny (from Allentown PA), Harold, Laufer, Harold (Blow to head), Lengyel, Alexander, Jr., Lester, Raymond, Leu, Selmar, Lucas, Alan (Crushed), Lucas, David (Forced to drive truck by Germans, died as POW), Leuers, James, Lawarance, Martin, McKinney, Robert (Crushed), McGovern, William, Miller, Hasley, Capt. Mills Roger (Killed approaching Germans from the field when he suspected something bad was about to happen), Moore, William (Crushed), 1st LT Munzinger, John, Murray, David (Unknown cause of death),O' Grady, David (Shot), Oliver, Thomas, Oscar, Jordon, Laufer, Osborne, John (Blow to head), Perkowski, Walter (Shrapel), Phillies, Peter, Piasecki, Stanley, Pittman, Gilbert, Ist LT Reardon, Perry, Rosenfield, George (Shell), Rulman, Carl, Rupp, John (Shrapnel), Saylor, Oscar, Schwitgold, Max, Sheetz, Irwin, Shingler, John, Snyder, Robert, Stabulis, Alphonse, Steffy, George, Stevens, Carl, Swartz, Luke (From Reinholds, PA, Had dream that he would die during something bad the day of to Massacre, Died in killing field), Thomas, Elwood (MIA), Vario, Louis (Died later at Neuhof. Germany), Walker, Richard (Shrapnel), Watt, Thomas, Wiles, Vester, Wusterbarth, Dayton E.
Other: Lindt, Benjamin (200 FAB), Clymire, John, J. (86th Eng. Bn., Shell), James, Llyod A. (Rec. Co. 32nd Arm'd Rgt., Mullen, Kenston E (546 Amb. Co. )
